


Happy Birthday

by banquos_ghost



Series: Vault 831 [1]
Category: Fallout - Fandom, Fallout 4
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Vault 831, august fanfic challenge, unbearable fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-12-09 21:52:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11677806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/banquos_ghost/pseuds/banquos_ghost
Summary: Fanfic challenge -  1 a day for AugustApologies in advance for the variable quality.  :)





	Happy Birthday

August 1 - Shameless Fluff 'Happy Birthday'

It was Nora's stupid idea, so how come Duncan was lumbered with the arrangements for the surprise party for his dad's birthday? The last week had been busy, trying to secrete guests around the island and party paraphernalia around the house and time always seeming too short. Nora had arranged for the guests of honour to arrive at Spectacle Island from all over the Commonwealth. The guests had been crammed in dwellings around the settlement like mines hidden in the undergrowth. Garvey, Codsworth, Travis Miles, Hancock and Sturges. The few remaining stalwarts from the 'old days'. The names he knew from childhood stories round the fire, and fleeting visits. The names had legendary status in Duncan's mind, alongside the likes of Grognak and The Silver Shroud. He still couldn't quite believe the mortality of his idols until meeting them again last week. Some were grey and wrinkly now, only Codsworth and Hancock untouched by the creeping of time. And then there was Shaun. Duncan sighed as he thought of his brother. Shaun put a brave face on it, but being trapped in the body of a ten year old when he had lived on Spectacle Island for move than 30 years was hard on him. Most of the settlers were unnerved by this child that never grew up.

So, here they all were. Gathered in MacCready and Nora's small cabin. Waiting for his dad to return. The birthday cake in the middle of the room, the number 60 in bright red icing standing out vividly in a room of faded colour and past glories. Nora's eyes glinted in the reflected light of the candles. She was in her seventies now, slight and delicate. Her long grey hair gathered in a bun at the nape of her neck, her arm draped protectively around Shaun's slight shoulders. Meeting her old friends again had reinvigorated her. Behind her Preston Garvey and Sturges stood, their faces slightly anxious, Hancock was relaxed as ever, drink in hand, schmoozing with some of the other guests. The scene was set, everyone there now but the guest of honour.

The door creaked, and in stepped the man of the hour, who stood in the doorway with a rictus grin. 'Surprise!' A mass outcry... And MacCready still stood there... staring and unmoving. Nora met Duncan's eyes, and her anxious expression echoed his own stomach fluttering with butterflies that this was all some dreadful miscalculation.

'Well, well, well, the gang's all here!' MacCready's face creased into a genuine smile, and he peered into the depths of the room, picking out faces in the crowd. 'Is that you Garvey? And Sturges? Ahw, you shouldn't have...'

'Damn right we shouldn't have.' Garvey's words belayed the huge grin on his face. 

'Never thought you'd make it past the big 3-0 buddy' Hancock pressed through the crowd, crushing MacCready in a cough inducing bear hug.

'Speech, speech' Sturges bellowed. MacCready glared. However, Hancock released him from the hug and the birthday boy grabbed a beer from the side board, prising the cap off with a knife.

'To absent friends,' his blue eyes glistened with tears, as his thoughts turned to those that didn't make it. 

The toast was taken up by the rest of the company, 'Absent friends'. The sound of glass bottles being tapped together.

'Now it's not every day someone turns 60, and it's not every day I pay for everyone to get drunk..' He turned to Nora, gesticulating at the huge quantity of alcoholic beverages on every available surface. 'I take it all those drinks are on us?' 

Nora nodded, as she came forward and pecked his cheek. 'Yes, honey, the drinks are on us. Happy 60th'.


End file.
